New York (Tadias) – Ethiopia’s High Court has rejected a petition from opposition parties against the nation’s electoral board.

“The court Friday upheld an earlier decision from the National Electoral Board dismissing the opposition’s request. The Board had said the parties’ claims of fraud and pre-poll intimidation were unsupported by evidence,” VOA reports.

Ethiopia’s biggest opposition coalition, the eight-party Medrek, filed the court appeal last week after the country’s election authority the previous week rejected its calls for a new poll after reports of irregularities surfaced in last month’s nationwide parliamentary contest.

“We have lodged this appeal because the manner in which the NEB handled our grievances was very irregular,” Medrek chairman Beyene Petros told Reuters at the time.

“We submitted an 87-page document of evidence but they never invited us to explain or to present witnesses. The rejection was a face-saving measure.”

Early results showed the ruling party sweeping 99.6 percent of announced seats. “Government officials say the ruling party’s landslide victory reflects the will of the people, while the opposition says the election was stolen,” VOAreports.

European Union observers and the U.S. government have criticized the pre-election-day process. “This electoral process falls short of certain international commitments,” said Thijs Berman, the chief EU observer, pointing to the use of state resources to campaign for the ruling party.

Secretary of State Jonnie Carson, President Obama’s top Diplomat for Africa, recently told a Congressional panel: “While the elections were calm and peaceful and largely without any kind of violence, we note with some degree of remorse that the elections there were not up to international standards.”

The aftermath of last month’s poll in Ethiopia, one of America’s key partners in the global war against terrorism, continues to be closely watched by U.S. officials, lawmakers as well as by Ethiopian-Americans.

“To the extent that Ethiopia values the relationship with the United States, then we think they should heed this very direct and strong message,” State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said. “We value the cooperation that we have with the Ethiopian government on a range of issues including regional security, including climate change for example. So we will continue to engage this government. But we will make clear that there are steps that it needs to take to improve democratic institutions.”

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the ballot had been corrupted by pre-election irregularities.